Friends Overview

Friends was a very popular television show that began in 1994 and ended in 2004. It features an all-white, middle-class group of friends. Their ratings were consistently in the 20-30 million (American) viewers range throughout each season. The finale was the fourth most-watched series finale and reached an average of 52.5 million American viewers. The show received many positive reviews and is often featured in lists that rank ‘the best television shows of all time.’ It was nominated for 63 Emmy Awards.

It was created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, two white people. It had 12 executive producers during the course of its show, 10 of them being white men. The other two were white women. It aired on the corporate network that is NBC. Like many other American television shows, the messages spread on Friends were often catered to the white, middle class audience in society. 

Media representations in race, class, gender and sexuality are often catered to the dominant groups in each category. Friends is no different. It places importance on heterosexual, middle-class whites, enforces stereotypes about gender and mocks homosexuality.

A Black woman named Amaani Lyle was hired to work as a writer's assistant. She was employed by NBC and Friends for about 4 months after being fired. They said “she did not type fast enough to keep with the creative discussions.” Lyle filed a lawsuit saying she allegedly faced race discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination. She claimed that in addition to making derogatory comments towards women and people of color, they often discussed their sex lives, sexual acts, preferences and gestures, and drew lewd pictures. She even claims that the writers talked about making the character Joey a rapist and describe rape scenes. The Smoking Gun posted an eight-page document regarding the case. The defendants admitted that many of the allegations were true. They argued that the conduct was justified by ‘creative necessity. 'Unfortunately she has lost lawsuit as the Supreme Court dismissed it “ruling that vulgar and coarse comments by the show's writers reflected the ‘creative workplace’ for a comedy with sexual themes.

Document regarding the Lyle case

Race Representation

Friends featured an all white cast and had very few non-white characters during its 10 year run. Even background characters were white for the most part. The ones that did appear were usually present for only one episode before disappearing. The show did feature two non-white recurring characters. Both of them were primarily used as love interests that created conflict between the main characters. 

An Asian woman named Julie (played by Lauren Tom) appeared in seven episodes. She has  an ‘Americanized’ name, no accent and no other Asian cultural markers. One would think she would able to fit into the Friends group because of this but unfortunately does not. She does manage to break the circle and sit with the characters, but is presented with awkwardness and deals with scrutiny, specifically from Rachel. In the episode titled ‘The One With the Breast Milk,’ Julie is trying to fit into the group. Rachel, having feelings for Ross, is very cold towards her. She refers to Julie as a “bitch” twice in the episode. Chidester argues that Rachel is colder towards her than to the other (White) women Ross has dated. It could be argued that Rachel is just acting jealous and would act the same towards any other women. However “it is difficult to discount the expressly racial quality of the encounter, or the extent to which Rachel’s presented value as a woman is tied to her worth as the visual ideal of the White woman, the blonde, pale-skinned beauty who has so often served in visual media texts as the source of desire for the red-blooded American male” (Chidester). Ross ends up breaking Julie, by getting together with Rachel. The breakup is not officially shown on screen but implied and Julie is not seen again.

A Black woman named Charlie Wheeler (played by Aisha Tyler) appeared in season nine. She was introduced as part of a love triangle between Ross and Joey. She appeared in nine episodes. Charlie begins to date Joey for four episodes and moves on to Ross for the remaining. She causes conflict between the two characters. At the time, the press made a huge deal about the character Charlie (played by Aisha Tyler). She was the first major Black character in the Friends series. She appeared in more episodes than the Asian character Julie, making her more significant. Charlie is also the first black character to be romantically linked to the main cast. Of course her race is not explicitly mentioned. Chidester mentions how the cast “go to to great pains not to discuss Tyler’s racial difference.” While Charlie is dating Ross, Rachel’s jealous remarks include her height. Like Julie, Charlie does not fully integrate into the closed circle. She does get to sit in main setting of The Central Perk twice, but only with a few of the main characters present. So she never really has a sense of belonging in the circle. She eventually breaks up with Ross by reuniting with an ex. She is never seen from again after that. Her departure is very similar to the only other non-White major character, Julie. The visual metaphor of the closed circle in Friends displays how Whiteness is more important as other non-Whites could not successfully integrate into the group. The media favors the white over the non-White and uses messages in television to enforce the idea of White privilege. It focuses its attention on Whites and minority groups are seen as not as important.

Class Representation

The characters were mainly middle-class and lived in spacious, nice apartments. However like other sitcoms, they were only shown at their job sometimes. They were often shown hanging out in either the apartments they lived in or their local coffee shop, The Central Perk. In some of the earlier episodes, each of the characters, with the exception of Ross, experience being jobless without an income. yet are still able to afford their apartment, luxuries, etc. They are usually shown in dressier clothing, especially in the later seasons.

In the last season, the character Erica was introduced. Later in the series, Monica and Chandler get married. After learning they are unable to conceive children, they begin looking to adopt. Monica and Chandler plan to adopt Erica's baby after gives birth. She comes from a country-like, lower class background. In the episode ‘The One Where Joey Speaks French,’ her origins are made fun of by joking that the baby will be named Jiminy Billy Bob. Chandler is especially not fond of this. Although Erica is the deliverer of the joke, Monica has suggested it, making Erica, unwittingly, the butt of the joke. The class difference between the characters is shown in a joking matter, poking fun at the lower class. The show also jokes about Erica’s intelligence. She is shown as not knowing much about her pregnant body. In ‘The One With Rachel’s Going Away Party’ Erica confuses her contractions with being random stomachs aches. In the first part of the series two-part finale episode, Erica also discovers she is pregnant with twins. She misinterprets the doctor’s information about two heartbeats as her own heartbeat and the baby’s. Since she is of a lower class, it is assumed that she must not be intelligent. The many jokes about her pregnancy also send a message about her, along with other lower-class people, being unfit mothers. These messages display ideas of the upper class being superior and the lower class being inferior.